Technocratic Populism in Italy after Berlusconi: The Trendsetter and his Disciples

Abstract

Notwithstanding the speculations from the literature, the empirical analyses still neglect the convergence between populism and technocracy. The Italian case can be of some interest in this perspective, given the rise of technocratic populism since Silvio Berlusconi’s rise to power in 1994. By analyzing the style of leadership and the processes of ministerial appointment and delegation, we argue that Berlusconi has been a trendsetter, more than a coherent example of technocratic populist leader. On the one hand, he played the role of the entrepreneur in politics, promising to run the state as a firm. Moreover, he adopted an anti-establishment appeal, delegitimizing political opponents and stressing the divide between ‘us’ (hardworking ordinary people) and ‘them’ (incompetent politicians). On the other hand, however, his anti-elite approach was mainly directed towards the ‘post-communist elite.’ Extending the analysis to the following two decades, we introduce a diachronic comparison involving three examples of leadership somehow influenced by Berlusconi. Mario Monti represents the paradox of the impossible hero: A pure technocrat unable to take a genuinely populist semblance. Matteo Renzi represents the attempt to mix a populist party leadership with a technocratic chief executive style. Finally, Salvini represents the pure nativist heir of Berlusconi, as the new leader of the right-wing camp. The latest developments of executive leadership in Italy, and the re-emergence of other residual hints of technocratic populism, will be discussed in the final section of the article, also in the light of the evident impact of the 2020 pandemic outbreak on the practices of government.

Technocratic Populism à la Française? The Roots and Mechanisms of Emmanuel Macron’s Success

“…Second, it highlights an important condition for the rise of populism-the implosion of the established party systems (cf. Caiani & Graziano, 2016;Castaldo & Verzichelli, 2020;Ganuza & Font, 2020;Guasti & Buštíková, 2020). Third, it illustrates that populist rhetoric is not limited to the extremes on the right or the left (Norris, 2020).…”

“…Under these conditions, a weakened party system creates an opening for newcomers (cf. Aprasidze & Siroky, 2020;Buštíková & Guasti, 2019;Castaldo & Verzichelli, 2020;Ganuza & Font, 2020).…”

“…Berlusconi and Babiš both combined populist and technocratic appeal to broaden their electoral chances. Both have been studied through the lens of technocratic populism, used initially to study Latin America (Buštíková & Guasti, 2019;Castaldo & Verzichelli, 2020;de la Torre, 2013;Havlík, 2019). As Emmanuel Macron shares many of their characteristics, this article applies the technocratic populism perspective to test whether Macron is a technocratic populist.…”

Information Sources Shared on Facebook and Networking by Populist Leaders in Italy

“…Interestingly, Salvini represents the pure nativist heir of Berlusconi, which now seems to be shifting its party to centrist and mainstream stances (Roncarolo and Cremonesi 2019). However, according to other authors, Berlusconi, who initially was an entrepreneur entering the political field promising to run the state as a firm, now still promotes a technocratic and "soft" populism (Castaldo and Verzichelli 2020). A growing number of studies depict Giorgia Meloni as populist (Campus 2020); this is also supported by POPPA's scores and measurements.…”

Authentic Expertise: Andrej Babiš and the Technocratic Populist Performance During the COVID-19 Crisis

“…Recent years have witnessed a rise in studies focusing on technocratic populism as a distinct variant of populism (e.g., de la Torre 2013; Buštíková and Guasti, 2019;Castaldo & Verzichelli 2020;Perottino & Guasti 2020;Snegovaya 2020). Guasti and Buštíková (2020, 468), define technocratic (sometimes referred to as managerial (Havlík 2019) or centrist (Havlík & Voda 2018)) populism as an "output-oriented populism that directly links voters to leaders via expertise," wherein leaders present themselves as experts and present a "direct, personalized link" to their people, crossing over traditional left-right divides.…”